Are Promises Meant to be Broken?
by ShinigamiLenne
Summary: [UPDATED&COMPLETE!]Sasuke has returned to Konoha after two years expecting open arms from Sakura only to find out things have changed since he was last in the village. AUish.
1. Konoha

**Disclaimer: **No own Naruto...

* * *

Sasuke ran through the forest jumping from tree to tree. He was finally going home, back to Konoha. Of course, he had been declared a missing nin... but, maybe after they heard what he had did... they would wave it aside.

_Orochimaru couldn't wait any longer...he had to do the body transfer right then and there...or he would die. The body that he had been in was...unhealthy. He had been sick for days on end now up until the point where he couldn't stand the pain._

_Kabuto had done all he could do to try and to help out Orochimaru, but all of his efforts went to waste. So, the only the only thing left was to have Orochimaru transfer into Sasuke's body._

_Sasuke and Kabuto were in a different room then Orochimaru as they discussed the problem. "What? You can't do that! I still have to kill my brother!"_

_"Sasuke-kun, please," Kabuto was practically begging now. "Orochimaru-sama will make sure to kill your brother for you. Please. Just do as we say Sasuke-kun. Orochimaru-sama can't hold on much longer."_

_Surprisingly, the next words that came out of Sauske's mouth were, "Alright. I'll do it."_

_"Thank you so much Sasuke-kun!" Kabuto said happily looking at Sasuke with what he guessed was supposed to be a smile, but looked more like something that would send any person running back home screaming for their mom._

_"Don't thank me just yet," Sasuke smirked. Kabuto looked at Sasuke and of course, realized something was wrong right away. "Sofuushasen no Tachi!" Sasuke shouted. Thin strings that were attached to shuriken and kunai suddenly appeared and wrapped themselves around Kabuto and he fell to the ground, trapped. Sasuke smirked again. He had the strings in his mouth and quickly formed hand seals. "Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Sasuke sucked in some air and blew some flame. Since the strings were in his mouth made a pathway for the fire to go to. Kabuto._

_Kabuto was helpless and could do nothing but lay there twitching with all his might and try as hard as he could to escape, but it wouldn't work. He barely had any chakra left due to all that time spent caring for Orochimaru. He was done for and so was Orochimaru-sama. Kabuto couldn't help but think, 'I knew this was coming.' But, that was the only thing he had time to think about as the flames engulfed him..._

_Sasuke stared at the flaming figure of Kabuto. 'And now all that's left is Orochimaru,' he thought. Sasuke went into the next room where Orochimaru was on a bed groaning painfully and screaming. Sasuke slammed the door and Orochimaru turned around to look at him. "Sasuke-kun," he said quietly. "Come quickly. I...I am almost...done with..."_

_"We can't let that happen now, can we?" Sasuke said in an obviously mocking voice, but Orochimaru seemed to be in too much pain to notice it. He got up from the bed and walked slowly towards Sasuke. 'If I'm ever going to do it, I'm going to do it now,' Sasuke thought, kind of panicked. He quickly made some more hand seals. He held his right arm down towards the ground as a crackling ball formed in it and his left hand held his right arm. "Chidori!" he shouted and plunged foward towards Orochimaru._

_"Sasuke-kun? What're you..." Orochimaru never got to finish the rest of his sentence as Sasuke's hand plunged into him. He spit out some blood and stopped moving. They stood like that for a few moments...Sasuke's hand in Orochimaru and Orochimaru limp._

Quickly after that, he cleared out the rest of the place. When that was done with, he left...

It was as simple as that. He had killed Orochimaru and left. Now, he was going to the village that where he had been marked as a missing nin and would probably recieve some punishments... or more for betraying Konoha by leaving them for Orochimaru. Yet, Sasuke didn't mind. As soon as any of those thoughts entered his head, he shoved them aside and thought of only one thing. Pink cherry blossoms. Sakura.

He remembered when he left, how she poured her heart out to him, yet he just stood there and listened. And one of the last things she heard from him was...that she was annoying. Like any other day if she would be bugging him (but Sasuke actually loved those moments...not that he was going to tell anybody).

But, what stung most of all...was how Sasuke thought that she wouldn't care anymore. It's not that he would blame her... but none the less, he wanted to her to know how he felt... It was a pity how she didn't hear what his last words were to her.

_Sasuke caught her before she hit the ground. He carried her to a nearby bench and put her down there. Instead of leaving right away though, he stood there for a few minutes. He reached out his hand and gently wiped away Sakura's tears. "Sakura," he whispered, "I'll be back...I promise..."_

Sasuke was so busy thinking that he didn't notice that he had arrived outside Konoha already. He stood on a tree branch of a tree that was right outside the village. There didn't seem to be anything different, but when he saw the Hokage Monument, he couldn't keep his eyes off it for some reason. Sasuke's eyes trailed from the Shodaime, Nidaime, Sandaime, Yondaime, and surprisingly he saw Tsuande's head on the monument too. _I've been gone for a long time,_ he thought sadly.

Sasuke quickly jumped down from the tree branch and down onto the ground. Just as he was about to go into the village however, he finally noticed that his hands were still bloody from...past activities and luckily for him, there was a big puddle of water right in front of him and he used that to wash his hands off. After that, he hurried into Konoha.

It seemed so different...even peaceful. (Maybe it was because there weren't any crazy fangirls after him.) There was a cool breeze in the air, about six in the morning. Most shinobis would be training right about now, but Sasuke saw no one as he walked about. It wasn't that surprising. They were probably off somewhere else... After a while of aimlessly wandering around, Sasuke found himself right outside of the Hokage's office. He stood outside for ten minutes or so, and then finally pushed the doors open and walked inside.

And there was the Godaime herself...sleeping. Her head was on the desk followed by her arms which she had stuck her head on. Drool slipped down from her mouth onto all the paperwork. There was a huge stack of papers right next to her face and it just so happened that some of those papers got stuck onto her cheek. But that wasn't what Sasuke was shocked at. Oh no. The thing that made him stop in his tracks, mouth open, eyes wide, and eardrums shattering, was the snoring. Oh Kami the snoring. He would've rather faced the Mangekyou Sharingan then listen to that snoring. And they called her Tsunade-hime for Kami's sake! (A/N: BTW, hime means princess.) If that wasn't enough punishment for leaving Konoha, he didn't know what was.

But, his sense finally kicked in and he shouted out, "TSUANDE-SAMA!" loud and very, very clear.

"Uhh wuuh? I'm awake!" Tsuande said sluggishly, her right arm going instinctively towards her head...and then went flying in the other direction (knocking a ton of papers on the way) when she saw Sasuke. The poor Uchiha didn't have time to react as she leaped over her desk and shouted, "Sasuke! Uchiha Sasuke! Is that really you!"

"Yeah. It is me..." Tsunade took a good look at the boy. He seemed a bit...shocked, but who wouldn't? The poor teen had just stumbled onto her sleeping. He didn't seem too much different from the Sasuke two years back. His hair had grown a bit, he'd gotten taller, his clothes were a bit different, and he had some scars that didn't look like they were going to go away, but other than that, same old Sasuke! Except for one tiny thing. The air around him...he didn't seem so...well hell bent on killing anymore._ He couldn't have,_ Tsunade thought. _He didn't really kill Itachi, did he?_

"What happened? Why are you back? And I need to think of a punishment...or do they already have one for missing nins? Come on. Sit down and tell me everything." So Sasuke did. He started with how Orochimaru had been planning to wait until Sasuke had gotten stronger killed Itachi before transferring into his body...but it seemed that wasn't possible. The body that he had been inhabiting...it started growing weak, he was sick and in pain. While Kabuto wasted his chakra and energy on taking care of Orochimaru Sasuke thought of a plan. (Well not really a plan. More of a kill-everything-in-sight spur of the moment.) He killed the weakened Kabuto first, then Orochimaru who couldn't have done anything against Sasuke in his state and proceeded with the rest of his followers.

"So...what's my punishment?" Sasuke asked, afraid.

"Punishment!" Tsunade hollered. "No punishment!" she laughed. "YOU KILLED OROCHIMARU! OH I COULD SING!"

"Please don't," Sasuke said, rooted to his chair.

She ignored him and went on with her little rant. All of a sudden the door burst open. "Oi! Tsunade obaasan!" a loud voice called out from the door. "You're awake already? Who's that?" Sasuke turned around, and saw Naruto. "SASUKE-TEME!" Naruto wailed happily. "YOU'VE ACTUALLY COME BACK!" Then all of a sudden, he became serious. "I should beat the living hell out of you right now."

"What? What the hell are you talking about dobe?"

"Because of you, Sakura-chan's been refusing every guy that asks her out! She says she's been waiting for you! Which is weird. Bastard."

"Dobe."

"Don't call me a dobe!"

"Will you shut up Naruto?" this came from a voice down the hall. "I can hear you all the way down here! Is she up yet?" Sasuke recognized that voice at once.

"Sakura-chan! You won't believe who came back!" Naruto practically squealed.

"Who?" she entered the room. Sasuke saw her. She looked beautiful. _She's really grown up and matured, hasn't she? _he thought to himself. "S-Sasuke!"

Sasuke was so happy seeing her again, he didn't register that she had just said something very out of place. He got up from his chair and walked towards her, not caring if Naruto and Tsuande were there. He wrapped his arms around her while she stood, rooted to the spot, arms dangling at her side. When he finally let go, he looked into her eyes. They were the same green eyes that he used to see every day. Except, this time, her eyes were full of shock as she looked into his onyx ones.

Naruto stared in shock at the both of them. Since when did Sasuke change so much?

All of a sudden, Sakura decided to break the tension.


	2. Enter Kyoshio

**Disclaimer:** No own Naruto T.T

**A/N:** o.O Woah. Sasuke is way OOC...but don't worry! But it's all part of the plan! -Looks around evily-

Thanks to Yuuhi-Kurenai for the ideas for the names!

* * *

They were just looking into each other's eyes. And then, Sakura raised her hand and gave him a big, hard, and painful slap. Tsuande, Naruto, and Sasuke stared in shock at her. "What's so surprising?" she asked bitterly. Sasuke stayed rooted to the spot with his hand on his burning cheek.

"S-S-Sakura," he stuttered.

"Don't S-S-Sakura me! You dump me on that stupid bench and then just happen to come back two years later? All those times I cared for you, stayed by your side, and then on that night I poured my heart out to you. But what do I get? '_You really are annoying!'_ I don't need you Uchiha! And I don't ever want to see you again!" With that, she stormed out of the room.

"Look on the bright side Sasuke," Naruto said, "she didn't hit you as hard as she hits me."

"I - I - Naruto! I thought you said she waited for me," Sasuke practically whimpered...very pitifully.

Naruto stared in horror at what he deemed to be a worthy rival. He lifted a hand awkwardly to pat Sasuke's back. "Err...it'll be okay?" Sasuke looked at Naruto with a look like a little kid would give if they had scalped their knee. His bottom lip started trembling and then, he broke down.

And there they thought that Sasuke had changed for the better.

Tsunade then kicked the two of them out of her office because Sasuke was being too loud so they went off into the village to walk around. Unfortunately for them, this was a bad idea. Sasuke's old fangirls had caught wind of Sasuke being back. And then they spotted him.

"SASUKE-KUN!"

Which sent Naruto and Sasuke running for their lives. Good thing for the two of them, they escaped those lunatic girls and went to rest on a bench somewhere. But then, all of a sudden they heard, "Sasuke-kun!" Sasuke got ready to bolt but Naruto held him down.

"It's just Ino Sasuke!"

Sasuke's eyes bulged out. "Just Ino? Just INO!" he tried hard to keep him emotions under control. Last he remembere, she was almost, correction, more obsessed with Sasuke then Sakura was.

"Sasuke-kun daijoubu?" Ino asked walking over.

"Huh? Oh yeah. I'm fine. Heh, of course I'm fine," he said squirming around.

She gave him a weird look and said, "Don't worry. I don't like you anymore. I have my Shika-kun!" She squealed at that. "Oh yeah. I promised Sakura I'd give you something."

"What?"

"This." Ino raised her hand and swung it right across Sasuke's face.

"WHAT THE HELL! I ALREADY GOT FRIGGIN SLAPPED TODAY!"

Ino stared at him without flinching. "Whatever. You deserve it anyway. Walking out on Konoha like that."

"Wait, Ino! You're friends again with Sakura right?"

"Correction: best friends."

"Why doesn't Sakura like me anymore!" Sasuke wailed, going down on his knees and sobbing. This time, Ino did flinch. Naruto just shook his head in shame at what he called his best friend.

"Okay-okay I will! Just stop crying dammit! You look like a sissy." So, Sasuke calmed himself down and the three of them sat down on the bench. (With Sasuke hiccuping every now and then.) "I'm not really sure why she stopped liking you actually. After you left, her feelings for you kind of... whats the word? Umm... evaporated? Well, they just started disappearing. Then one day, this guy came. His name was Kyoshio. I remember that day was the day she actually started hating you too. In fact, Kyoshio's still here."

"He is?" Sasuke yelled, jumping up. "Lemme at him! Lemme at him!"

"Down teme, down," Naruto said, holding down Sasuke's head and pushing him back into a sitting position on the bench.

"If you want to meet him, I know he's staying over at Sakura's."

"THEY'RE LIVING TOGETHER! WHAT THE HELL? TAKE ME THERE! TAKE ME THERE NOW!"

"Calm down Romeo," Ino said, rolling her eyes. "They shouldn't be there right now. He's probably training with Sakura somewhere."

"Ano-sa, ano-sa."

"What is it you dobe?" Sasuke growled.

"Don't you wanna see everyone else? Who really cares about that Kyoshio guy?"

"I DO!"

"Fine then." The three of them got up and headed off. They had reached the academy when all of a sudden Sasuke screamed.

"Sakura!" And, of course, there was Sakura. She was talking with a boy that was about a few inches taller than her. She was facing them while the boy was facing the other way.

"Kyoshio-kun!" Ino called out waving.

Kyoshio turned around and smiled and waved at Ino too. All of a sudden, a ton of girls appeared out of nowhere and tried to glomp him. But they were driven back by Sakura. She slammed her fist into the ground and most of them were sent flying back, but not so that it hurt them too much. Sasuke now got a good view of Kyoshio. He was pretty tall, about the same height as Sasuke. His hair was black and it was sort of messy, but it spiked at the back. Not like Sasuke's hair that kind of stood up at the back though. His eyes were a nice warm brown. He had on baggy blue jeans and a big white blue striped shirt that reached a few inches above his knees.

"Poor Kyoshio-kun," Ino said. "All those crazed fangirls..."

Sakura had seen them and waved only to Ino and Naruto. They went over to her. "Hey Ino, Naruto," she said, smiling. Her face turned into a cold expression when she saw Sasuke. "Uchiha-san."

"Sakura," Sasuke said softly.

"I'm sorry Uchiha-san, I have to go somewhere with Kyoshio-kun. He asked me out on a date." She flashed him a smile and walked away with Kyoshio.

"Sorry Sasuke-kun," Ino said softly. "I think it's because you came back that she's with Kyoshio-kun. After all, what better revenge?" Her eyes brightened.

Sasuke was looking at the ground with a very sad expression on his face. But then he looked up and was smiling again. "I'll just have to steal Sakura back now," he said simply and headed off.

* * *

**A/N: **Don't worry! This is still a SasSaku story! ALL THE WAY! 


	3. Love Advice

**Disclaimer:** No own NARUTO!

**A/N:** Oh yeah, but just in case you guys got confused or whatever, how Naruto said Sakura was refusing all dates and then she ended up going out with Kyoshio, she was refusing them before Sasuke came back, so he would feel worse. And after she stormed out of Tsunade's office, she ended up bumping into Kyoshio and he just asked her out, and she accepted...so hope that's cleared up now!

* * *

"Ano-sa, ano-sa! TEME!" Naruto shouted.

"What is it you dobe?" Sasuke asked angrily, snapping around.

"You're just going to march right into Sakura-chan's date like that? She's going to hate you even more you know." Sasuke gaped. Naruto was actually making sense. "And besides. You obviously need love advice."

"What? Where can I get...love advice?"

"Ooooh! Ichiraku!" Of course, no matter how much his best friend needed help, ramen always came first for Naruto. "Miso ramen please!" he shouted at Ayame.

"Coming right up!" And... it did. Five seconds later, a bowl of miso ramen appeared in front of him, and he dug right in. Sasuke plopped down tiredly right next to him.

"Oi Naruto, what were you saying about love advice?"

"Oh yeah! Well - another bowl please! Well anyway, you need help. And who better to get it from then -"

"Who? Who? Tell me WHO!" But, it was too late. Naruto was on his next bowl of ramen...and the cycle went on. Naruto finishing a bowl of ramen, Sasuke trying to get him to talk, and Ayame bringing another bowl for Naruto before he could say anything to Sasuke. After all, trying to interupt Naruto while he was eating ramen was like trying to get Jiraiya to stop his habit of peeping... But, after a few dozen bowls of ramen, even if Naurto's stomach could stand it, his wallet couldn't.

So, they went back to walking around Konoha. "Naruto, what were you saying about love advice?"

"Oh right. Well, you need it. And I know just the people to give it to you!"

"Who?"

"Let's see, there's Neji. He's with Tenten."

"Neji! That cold hearted bastard? He - "

"Then there's Chouji and Lee. They met these two girls over at the Mist. And then there's Shikamaru! Oh yeah. He's probably the one you want to go to. He's got both Temari and Ino. And can't forget me!"

Sasuke almost jumped a few feet into the air. "You?"

"Hai! My wonderful Hinata-chan!"

Sasuke stood, rooted to the ground, completely surprised. _Nooooooo! The world is ending! Those bakas have girlfriends and I don't! And Sakura Haruno refused me! ME!_

Naruto watched as Sasuke went deeper and deeper into self-pity. "Sasuke-teme! Come on! If you really want Sakura-chan back, hurry up."

Sasuke, who was busy rocking himself back and forth and looking like a total idiot, looked up at Naruto. "Why're you helping me anyway?"

"There's just something bad about that Kyoshio. I know there is. But Sakura-chan won't believe me. So, the only thing left to do is for you to steal Sakura-chan away from Kyoshio! Now let's go!"

Sasuke stood up and looked Naruto in the eye. (Which was way easier seeing as how he got taller.) "Naruto...arigatou."

Naruto looked at Sasuke too and then grinned. "You can thank me later! Now let's go!" Naruto ran off and Sasuke walked slowly behind him. Soon, they reached a meadow. "Neji! Shikamaru! Hinata-chan! OHAYO!"

And there they were. "Naruto-kun!" Hinata waved and smiled. She was completely different from the girl a few years ago. After going out with Naruto, she had loosened up and overcome her shyness. (When you're as close to someone as Naruto, he ends up rubbing off on you.) The energetic blonde waved and grinned at Hinata.

"Oi Naruto, what'd you call us here for?" Shikamaru asked. "This is so troublesome, you know."

"You called them here?" Sasuke asked Naruto. "When? I never saw you call them!"

"Well actually, Hinata-chan saw me inside Ichiraku so she went and -"

"You know what? I don't want to know."

"Oi Naruto! Can we hurry this up? I told Tenten to meet me at two-thirty - it's two right now!"

"Well, MAYBE IF YOU STOPPED INTERUPTING ME AND LET ME GO ON WITH WHAT I HAD TO SAY THIS COULD GO ON QUICKER!" Everyone winced. Naruto at full volume wasn't something that the eardrums welcomed.

"Okay, so tell us."

"Well, Sasuke-teme here wants Sakura-chan back!"

"Uh huh and..."

"That's it."

"You dragged us all the way out here for this? Ugh. How troublesome."

"The point is he needs love advice! And the person that's stealing Sakura-chan away from Sasuke...is Kyoshio." Neji and Shikamaru's heads snapped up at this. Sasuke, of course, noticed it right away.

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with Kyoshio?"

"Sasuke," Neji began, "well, actually... Jiraya-sama was out gathering information on Akatsuki and he heard that Uchiha Itachi had disappeared a while after Sabaku had been sucked out of Gaara. That was around the time that Kyoshio appeared. And he's been asking around about you a lot. There's also a strange prescence around him. The Hokage-sama suspects something too."

Sasuke gaped.

"But he hasn't done anything so far," Shikamaru went on. "But if he even does one suspicious act, we'll jump him! I mean... we'll take him by force." Everyone sweatdropped, but right after that, they turned serious.

"Sasuke, you okay?"

"Of course I am! Besides, there's no way Itachi could be Kyoshio!" But something lingered at the back of his head. Or...could there?

"But do you see?" Naruto said. "You just have to help him! It's also for the good of Konoha!"

"Uh huh, whatever," Neji said.

"This is going to be troublesome."

"Hinata-chan, can you help too? You know Sakura-chan more than any of us here anyway."

"Of course Naruto-kun!"

"Isn't Temari coming today also?"

Shikamaru flinched. "Yeah. Kuso! Ino probably knows too... great. Just great."

"I heard Gaara was coming too. He could be helpful," Naruto suggested.

"Yeah. With his mob of fangirls," Shikamaru snickered. And then he started giggling. Right after that, he broke out into nonstop laughter. Everyone looked to the cause of it.

There was sand tickling him.


	4. What Ifs

**Disclaimer:** Naruto me no own.

**A****/N:** Revised - 07.17.07

* * *

"AhahahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHA! G - gaara! Please! I - I - I - I'm SORYYYYYYYYYYY!" Shikamaru was still laughing, while Gaara stood (looking hot) smirking at him. The other guys looked at Shikamaru funny and tried hard not to laugh too. 

"Gaara! Stop torturing Shika!" Everyone's head spun and saw Temari, looking seriously annoyed.

"T - t - t - temariiiiiiiiii! MAKE HIM STOP!" After a lot of yelling and not shutting up, Temari finally got Gaara to calm down.

"I'm going to go look for Sakura," he mumbled, and stalked off into the village. There was the distinct muttering of, "Stupid Temari..."

"Wait, did he just say he was going to look for Sakura? MY SAKURA?" Sasuke (obviously) yelled.

"Calm down teme," Naruto said. "It's nothing big. Sakura went over to train some medic nins one time over in Suna and the two of them ended up being friends. That's it. Nothing else to it."

"If you say so. Anyway, what're we going to do to get Sakura to like me again?"

Neji, Naruto, and Shikmaru grinned at each other. The three of them appraoched Sasuke with an evil, _evil _look on their faces.

--

Sasuke and Naruto walked out of the meadow, back towards the village. "...Sasuke? You okay?"

"W - what? Yeah. Of course I am," he said, with a dazed look on his face. "I'm... just thinking..."

"About what?" Naruto asked, skipping in front of the Uchiha.

"What if I never left Konoha, you know? Would I have to be desperate for advice? Would Sakura hate me? Would - "

Naruto's face scrunched up. "Sasuke, there's no point in wondering about that! What ifs get you nowhere. I could be wondering, what if the Kyuubi never appeared? What if the Kyuubi hadn't been stuck in me? What if my dad was still alive? I mean, it's not bad to wonder, but it's not good to dwell on these things!" He waved his finger in a no-no sign. "Besides, what's done is done! You should concentrate on what you _can do_. Not what you _could've done_."

Sasuke stared open-mouthed at Naruto, his arms hanging limply. "Did you just say that? I need to sit down." Sasuke started to head towards a nearby bench. "What were you saying about your dad now? You know who he was?"

"Oh yeah! He was the Yondaime! Isn't that so - "

Sasuke had fainted.

--

"A - ah - aaahhh! Stop kicking me!" Sasuke whined, rolling over.

"Sasuke-teme! Wake up!"

"That voice... shut up Naruto! For Kami's sakee!"

"Sasuke... you've lost conciousness in the middle of the street."

That woke him up. "WHAT? Why didn't you get me up sooner?" he screamed. His eyes opened at once and he sat up quickly, only to discover a crowd of people around him.

"SASUKE-KUN! YOU'RE SO KAWAII WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING!" an energetic fangirl screeched.

"Yeah _Sasuke-kun_!" Naruto said mockingly. "You're just so _kawaii_ when you're drooling!"

Sasuke's eye twitched and he quickly got up, dragging Naruto along with him. They were out of sight of Sasuke's crazy fangirls in no time (as they were still cooing over the memory of a 'kawaii' sleeping Sasuke), arriving somewhere nice and quiet. "Now what were you saying about your dad?"

"Yeah, I found out that the Yondaime's my dad!" Sasuke was prepared this time. He didn't faint. But he did start to hyperventilate. "It all started with... "

_"Your father was such a great man," Kakashi said out of the blue one day while he, Naruto, and Sakura were taking a stroll._

_Naruto raised his eyebrow. "You knew my father? Who was he?" the energetic blonde started to jump up and down in front of the lazy nin._

_"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei! Who was he? Come on, you can tell us!" Sakura encouraged._

_Kakashi glanced back and forth at the two of them. _This would be harder if Sasuke was here,_ he mused. But unfortunately for him, Naruto seemed to have read his mind._

_"You know what, I don't think he'll give in unless Sasuke-teme's here! KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"_

_"Henge!"_

_"Come on Kakashi-sensei, please?"_

_Kakashi looked at the three of them. _Oh well, he was going to find out sooner or later, _he thought. "Alright, but sit down first. I don't need you two fainting on me," he sighed, putting away his Icha Icha Tactics._

_The two of them shared a confused look but proceeded to sit down on the spot they were standing._

_"Not in public!" Kakashi hissed, rushing them to the bridge where they always met. "Alright," he started to say as Naruto and Sakura sat down, "now, my sensei, the Yondaime Hokage or Kazama Arashi - "_

_"Oh, cool! The Yondaime knew my dad?"_

_"NO YOU IDIOT! Ahem, I mean... Okay, _he _is your dad."_

_Kakashi watched the two of them blink two times, look at each other and then burst out laughing. "That's a good one Kaka-sensei! Come on, who was his dad?"_

_"I'm not joking!" Kakashi walked over to Naruto. "Naruto, smile!"_

_"Uhh... sure..." Naruto obliged, splitting his face in that grin we all know and love.  
_

_Kakashi pulled out a picture. "See?" He pointed from Naruto to the picture. "SAME SMILE! SAME HAIR! SAME EYES! SAME FAMILY!"_

_Sakura looked back from the picture of the Yondaime to Naruto as he continued to grin. Then she looked at Kakashi. "You carry a picture of the Yondaime around everywhere you go? How creepy!"_

_Kakashi fell over. "But do you believe me now?"_

_"Well, it's believable," Sakura said thoughtfully. "But why isn't Naruto's name Naruto Kazama then?"_

_"Easily answered. We used his mother's last name to protect him. After all, being the Yondaime's son would come with a few problems." Kakashi and Sakura looked over to Naruto. He was being peculiarly quiet.._

_"ALL RIGHT!" They both jumped back. "OH YEAH! THIS VILLAGE HAS TO RESPECT ME NOW! BOW DOWN TO ME!"_

_"Naruto, it's not that simple..."_

"Okay, you can stop now dobe," Sasuke said. "I don't need to know how simple it isn't!"

"Isn't it so cool though?" Naruto laughed, jumping up and down.

"Sure..." Sasuke said, his mind now wandering back to his problem.

"You know, Valentines Day is coming up," Naruo said.

"Great! Just great..."

"I would help you, but I have my hands full with Hinata," Naruto grinned. Sasuke shot him a death glare. "Well, you could come along for tips I guess..."

"Fine. Something's better than nothing..."


	5. Gut Feeling

**Disclaimer:** Naruto DOESN'T belong to me...

**A/N: **Revised - 07.17.07

* * *

BRIIIIIIIINNGGG! Sasuke jumped when he heard his alarm clock ring... Well, actually, it was Naruto's, but what did it matter? He rubbed his eyes and looked around. Then, he spotted the calendar and realized it was Valentine's Day already! He jumped out of bed and scrambled to pull his clothes on. It was only until he walked out of Naruto's apartment and everyone started gawking at him did he realize that something was wrong. 

Ichiraku (which was right across the street from Naruto's aparment; wow what a surprise), was where Naruto was in right now with Hinata. So, it just so happened that Sasuke's ultimate rival saw him...

With heart boxers over his head, his usual blue shirt where his pants were supposed to be, leg warmers on his arms, and toothpaste not completely rinsed from his mouth.

"OH-EM-GEE SASUKE! WHAT IN THE NAME OF TSUNADE-BACHAN ARE YOU DOING?" Naruto, of course, screamed loudly, enough for all of Fire Country to hear.

And Sasuke, who had only seen Naruto and Hinata, barely noticed a few other people in Ichiraku too. "Oi, Naruto, what're you yelling abo-" Sakura was sitting in a few seats away from him and turned around, and saw...Sasuke, the fasion disaster.

"S - s - sakura!" Sasuke stuttered, stared, and turned red and SUPER bright, thus barely noticing the rest of the Konoha 11 was also there plus one Kyoshio and Temari, who all started busting out in laughter.

--

"Sasuke! Get out here!" Naruto screamed. Sasuke had locked himself in Naruto's apartment and wouldn't come out, after he had gawked for a while at Sakura and ran away quickly, prompting the Rookie 11 (minus Sakura, of course, but plus Temari) to follow him in 'concern' for Sasuke's personal safety. However, any attempt that they would try to make to bust down the door was gotten rid of by Naruto, for fear of his lovely door and claiming he would not be able to replace it due Jiraiya emptying his (adorable) froggy wallet. "Neji, what's the teme doing?"

"BYAKUGAN! Hmm...it seems that...he's..." Neji turned around quickly and uttered out, "Trying to get into normal clothes."

"Glad I didn't tell you to do it, Hinata-chan."

Ten minutes later... "SASUKE ARE YOU DONE YET?"

"Jeez, he's like a goddamned chick, taking that long." The lock clicked and the door swung open, with a still red Sasuke.

All of a sudden there was a poof, Kakashi appeared (sort of, cause seriously, who in the ninja world isn't used to big poofs?) dramatically in the middle of the group, his nose in one of his little dirty books.

"Kakashi-sensei? What're you doing here?"

"Oh, the Hokage told me to come tell you that there'll be a dance for all nin, and you're invited! It starts at five this evening, don't be late. Oh, hi Sasuke."

"Wait, wait Kakashi-sensei, do you mean to tell us that we have what, _only_ seven hours to go shopping and get ready for this dance!?" Ino demanded, to the horrified looks of the boys, whose eyes had bulged when she had said '_only_ seven hours.'

"Err... Tsunade-sama decided this spontaneously this morning, so don't look at me," the experienced nin shifted a bit uneasily under the glares of the girls.

"Well, we could've had a little bit of a warning!" Ino went on. "I mean, a dance for all the nin, and there's gonna be all the decorations to take care of. Then, alerting everyone, and dances are soooo complicated and they have a whole bunch of planning that goes on behind them, and she just spontaneously decides this!?"

"Calm down, Ino!" Temari hissed. "No one wants to hear you complain about something you don't even have to worry about!"

"But I have to worry about it! If it's a bunch of crap, then why would I want to waste my time going there!?"

"Who gives a damn!?" Shikamaru decided to step in and proceeded to stand in the middle of them, sighing, "Troublesome," every now and then.

"Girls," Sasuke grumbled. Turning his attention to Kakashi though he asked, "Is it a Valentine's Dance?"

"I believe so. Not sure though, but I do remember seeing a bunch of pink and red decorations in a corner in the Hokage office.."

Sasuke turned to Naruto and proceeded to scream out, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

--

"It's okay, Sasuke." Naruto was awkwardly patting him on the back. "Just go with some other girl. There're a ton of them out there."

"But I want Sakura!" (This came out whiny.)

"Well, yeah Sakura-chan's a great girl! She's pretty, nice, and not some sissy, but you have a whole fanclub! Why not just choose someone from there? You could try and make Sakura jealous!"

"Won't work," Sasuke mumbled. "I can feel it in my gut. Seriously, I felt something in my gut when you said that."

"Ahh, creepy. Well, it's still the most plausible idea we have!"

"You know what plausible means?" Sasuke said, spinning around and glaring at Naruto.

"Umm..."

"Now that I think about it, I don't think you used it in the right kind of sentence... or did you?" He went back to mumbling to himself.

"You can't just wallow in self-pity all the time, look what happened to Gaara!" Naruto pointed out.

--

The Kazekage and Hokage were in the middle of a very heated discussion, and Gaara was in the process of saying something with lots of heart and banging the table when he suddenly sneezed out of nowhere (it wasn't even cold)!. "Bless you," Tsunade said.

"Someone's talking about me," Gaara growled, narrowing his eyes.

--

"If I'm not allowed self-pity, what am I allowed?" Sasuke wailed, head in his hands.

"Nothing, you teme! However, I guess you could be allowed to, I don't know, actually do something for a change?"

"Like what?"

"Well, I guess we could come up with a plan to get Sakura-chan to go out with you." Sasuke laughed at that thought. Naruto, the big dobe, come up with a plan? "I don't mean me. I mean Shikamaru, Neji, and the guys. The girls too, they're pretty useful sometimes. But you wanna see if they could come up with something?"

Sasuke sighed, staring up at the sky. Well, on one hand, it was better than doing nothing, but on the other he just didn't wannaaaaaaaaaaaaa! But his gut was 'telling' him to go with this plan. _Stupid gut. One day I'm gonna get you removed_, he thought silently. "Alright, let's go Naruto."


	6. Hikari

**Disclamier**: I do not own Naruto or Hikari.

* * *

"Here's what we should do," Temari said, looking Sasuke straight in the eye, "go with a fake date and get Sakura jealous." 

"No!" Ino shrieked. "That'll never work. Sakura's changed, you know."

"Like hell she has."

"How would you know?"

"Shika's my man!" the two continued arguing while everyone stared on in amazement.

"How'd they get from Sakura to Shikamaru?" Neji whispered.

"Who knows. Well anyway Sasuke, back to your problem."

"KYOSHIO IS MY PROBLEM! HE MUST DIE!"

"Whatever. Actually Temari's idea is a good one," Neji said, rubbing his chin.

Everyone stared at him weirdly. "When'd you start rubbing your chin Neji?"

"Can we get back to my problem please?"

"SASUKE SAID PLEASE! SOMEONE, QUICK!"

"You dobe..."

"SHIKAMARU'S MINE!"

It was complete chaos. Everyone was either screaming or fighting. But luckily for them, Kakashi appeared. (A/N: I'm just coming up with this while I'm going okay? Lol.) "Calm down!" They didn't. So he had to do something freaky he learned recently with his Sharingan.

"Duuude," Naruto said, perplexed. "That was SO COOL!"

"Naruto-"

"Ah?"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

"...Biotch."

"You were saying, Kakashi-sensei?"

"I wasn't saying anything..." Everyone all sweatdropped. "But anyway, I heard you were having problems getting a date Sasuke? The _great Uchiha Sasuke_?"

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yeah?"

"SHUT TH - " Neji quickly clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Like I was saying, well I don't know if you've heard before or not, but I was a _total_ ladies man back in the days. Still am, actually." Sasuke stared blankly (well _duh_, not like he can make any other facial expressions with that _hand_ clamped over his face). "Oh right. It's supposed to be about you, right Sasuke?" Sasuke nodded vigorusly. "Conceited teenagers these days...Okay, just leave it to me. I'll get Sakura there for you."

"What, with your new Sharingan trick?"

"Yeah! I call it the Uber Cool Sharingan Hypnotizing Thingie to Hypnotize Everyone!"

Everyone stared _uberly_ weirdly at Kakashi. "We'll be leaving now..."

--

"You think it'll work?" Naruto asked.

"I don't want to think about it. Too troublesome," Shikamaru said, sighing.

"Wait, what am I talking about? Of course it'll work! It's the," Naruto took a deep breath and continued, "Uber Cool Sharingan Hypnotizing Thingie to Hypnotize Everyone!"

"What do we do now?"

Ino and Temari suddenly exchanged a glance and started chuckling. "SHOPPING TIME!"

The guys stared at each other before screaming out, "NOOOOOO!"

--

The two of them had miraculously managed to find TenTen, wait that's it...

They managed to find TenTen and convince her to go _shopping_ with them. Sure, it was great for them to find some nice new kimonos or whatever and look great for the dance, but who was it that had to pay and carry for their things? Yes. Their boyfriends.

"You lucky teme," Naruto muttered to Sasuke. Even Hinata hadn't been light on Naruto and spent most of his money faster than that time with Jiraiya. It still gave him nightmares thinking about it.

"Well, better than being lonely, LIKE ME!"

Shikamaru and Neji tumbled over, heaving lots of bags. "Well at least you odn't have _two scary_ girls chasing after you," Shikamaru growled. "How freaking troublesome!"

"I hate women," Neji whispered. They were stuck in a kimono shop, after they had stopped in millions of others to get jewlery, make-up, who knows what else. And that wasn't even the bad part. Tons of other women and their boyfriends were there too.

"Ano-sa, Neji?"

"What, you dobe?" Neji snapped. (Someone's picking up on bad Sasuke habits.)

"Aaahh, I forgot what your eye thingie's called..."

"And why do you care?"

"It's boring!"

"Hnn."

"TELL ME WHAT IT'S CALLED!"

"...Byakugan! You freaking ..."

"Naruto, what did you do?" Neji was staring straight at the changing rooms. Eyes wide open. "Kami-sama..."

Shikamaru, being the genius that he was, figured it out of course. "You didn't...you serious baka!"

"What'd he do? What'd he do? What'd he do?" Sasuke whimpered, jumping around.

"Okay, Sasuke, what is Byakugan plus women changing in changing rooms?"

"...Uhh...wait... You subtract that, add that...KUSO!"

"Let's get him outta here before anybody notices." But then TenTen walked over. "Neji, I need some... what are you doing?"

"Kami-sama...Kami-sama..." She looked to what he was currently obsessed with. "NEJI! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? STOP! STARING AT THE..." Of course with all the screaming everyone would turn to see what they were screaming about...

"RUN!"

"KILL THE HYUGA!"

"Oh shit! Why must all men be pervs?" TenTen whined to herself.

"So not true. Not my Shika!"

"That's cause he's too lazy to get offa his ass and do anything!"

"Well put TenTen," Shikamaru said.

"WHAT!"

"Why're we still _arguing_?" So they decided to shut up, until they got to safer ground that is.

--

After who knows how long, they finally escaped the crazy girls. "Oh no! There's only five hours left till the dance! We have to get ready!" Ino shrieked, and ran off with Hinata, Temari, and TenTen.

"Women," Neji growled.

"You know you love TenTen," Naruto said.

"I know I do. Wait..."

POOF! "AAAAAHHH!"

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

"HOLY SHIT!"

"HINATA-CHAN!"

"Hi."

"Kakashi-sensei! _Don't_ do that! Damn!"

"Well, I'm just popping by to say that _you_, Sasuke, are taking Sakura to the dance. Meet her there. Ja."

"Way to go Sasuke!"

"Good one!" Naruto coughed. "Not, not." -End cough-

--

"We're supposed to meet them all there?"

"Guess so."

The guys were all dressed up and looking hot as they walked towards...wherever the dance was supposed to be. Almost the whole village was gonna be there, by the looks of it.

"Are we there yet?" Naruto whined.

"No."

"Now?"

"No!"

"Are we there?"

"No."

"Now?"

"No."

"Now?"

"No."

"How bout now?"

"NO!"

"Are you _not_ a jackass?"

"NO!"

"Haha, you're not, not a jackass!"

The rest of the walk there was in total, complete, utter, awkward silence.

Sakura was standing with the rest of the girls. She was in a bright pink kimono, with sakura petals decorated on it. The bow on her waist was a rich deep red. Her hair was pulled up and stocked up in layers on her head with two red chopsticks sticking out. Her eyes looked a little glazed over, but nothing wrong besides that.

Hinata was in a deep blue kimono, with various random decorations on it. Her bow was a very dark blue. Her long hair was tied up in a bun at the back of her head.

TenTen had on a deep green kimono, with light green leaves falling on it. Her bow was also a dark green. And she had surprisingly let down her hair without doing anything special to it.

Ino wore a light purple kimono, with purple things on it. She had a dark purple bow. Her hair was also let down, and flowed below her waist.

Temari's kimono was a _bright_ yellow. (It stood out a lot too.) Various dark yellow decorations was splattered across it. Her bow was a dark yellow, but not the kind of dirty dark. She had also let her hair down like TenTen and it was super straight and reached a few inches below her shoulders.

The guys were _amazed_. "My girl's hot."

"Nuh uh, mines is hotter!"

"NO!"

"Sakura is the hottest ever!"

"Naruto, shouldn't you be saying Hinata's hot?"

"Don't say my cousin's hot!"

"Ewww, you're saying you _know_ your cousin isn't hot? Do you check her out?"

"Hey Neji!"

"Ewww you nasty Neji."

"HEY!" Ino screamed at them. They winced and looked over. "GET YOUR FREAKING ASSES OVER HERE!" People stared. "Hey, _we're_ part of the _Rookie 9_. Stop staring!" (A/N: And now, the dance will finally begin.)

The guys quickly grabbed their girlfriend's hands (except for Sasuke, of course), and rushed in before Ino could embarass them any further. Of course, poor Shikamaru had to wait outside for a long time due to his, Ino and Temari problem.

A ton of people were already inside, dancing. "Hey, who's that girl singing? She's hot," someone whispered.

Naruto jumped. And squealed. "It's Utada Hikaru!"

"U - who?"

"This is sooo cool!"

"Naruto-kun, did you eat more sugar?"

"She's starting a new song! Come on!"

Naruto grabbed Hinata and rushed off to dance. TenTen quickly grabbed Neji. Well, more of pulled...and dragged. Shikamaru was being pulled by both Ino and Temari. And Sasuke? He and Sakura walked calmly over to the (A/N: I can't remember the frickin word...so...I'm gonna call it...the dance thingy. Sorry!) dance thingy.

The song starting playing, at a slow and soft pace. (A/N: Warning, warning. Very long song ahead. Also has translations.)

"Donna tokidatte

"Tada hitoride

"Unmei wasurete ikitekitanoni

"Totsuzen no hikari no naka megasameru

"Mayonakani."

-No matter what the time

I'm just alone

Destiny forgotten

Even though I kept going

Inside of the sudden light I awaken

In the middle of the night-

Sasuke looked over at Sakura and thought about how this song frighteningly kind of resembled his life. But, her eyes were still pretty much glazed over as always.

"Shizukani

"Deguchini tatte

"Kurayami ni hikari wo ute."

-Quietly

Stand in the exit way

And, in the pitch-black, take the light-

_Take the light_? he thought. _I could've back... that night_. He looked over at Sakura again. Her arms were compeletely wrapped around his neck and she was resting her head on his chest.

"Imadoki yakusoku nante

"Fuan ni saseru dakekana

"Negai wo kuchi ni shitaidake sagasou

"Kunimo shoukai suruyo kitto umaku ikuyo."

-And about the recent promises

Is it just that I'm so anxious?

A wish that's wanting to be said, but shall be repressed

I'll introduce my family

You'll surely get along well-

_A promise? How ironic._

"Donna tokidatte

"Zutto futaride

"Donna tokidatte

"Soba ni irukara

"Kimi to iu hikari ga watashi wo mitsukeru

"Mayonakani."

-No matter what the time

We'll always be together

No matter what the time

Because you're by my side

The light known as "you" finds me

In the middle of the night-

"Sakura?" Sasuke whispered. Surprisingly, she reacted.

"Sasuke?"

"Urusai (When you turn my way) toori ni haitte

"Unmei (Take it all the way) no kamen wo tore."

-Enter a noisy street

And put on the mask of destiny-

The two of them danced some more without any words.

"Saki wo mitooshi suginante

"Imi no nai koto ha yamete

"Kyou ha hoshii monomo tabeyouyo

"Mirai wo zutto sakidayo

"Bokunimo wakaranai."

-Thinking too much about the future

Stopping things that have no meaning

Today I'll eat delicious things

The future is always before us

Even I don't know it-

It was silent except for the song.

"Kansei sasenaide

"Motto yokushite

"One scene zutsu totte

"Ikeba iikara

"Kimi to iu hikari ga watashi no scenario

"Utsushidasu."

-It's not necessary to go right to the end

Just keep going

It's okay if the scenes

Go on one by one

The light known as "you"

reflects my scenario-

"Motto hanasouyo

"Mokuzen no ashita no koto mo

"Terebi keshite watashi no koto dake wo

"Miteiteyo."

-Let's talk more

And about the tomorrow that's before your very eyes

Turn off the television

And look only at me-

"Donnani yokutatte

"Shinji kirenaine

"Sonna toki datte

"Soba ni irukara

"Kimi to iu hikari ga watashi wo mitsukeru

"Mayonakani."

-No matter how well we're doing

I don't believe in us completely

But at those sort of times

Because you're by my side

The light known as "you" finds me

In the middle of the night-

"Motto hanasouyo

"Mokuzen no ashita no koto mo

"Terebi keshite watashi no koto dake wo

"Miteiteyo."

-Let's talk more

And about the tomorrow that's before your very eyes

Turn off the television

And look only at me-

"Motto hanasouyo

"Mokuzen no ashita no koto mo

"Terebi keshite watashi no koto dake wo

"Miteiteyo."

-Let's talk more

And about the tomorrow that's before your very eyes

Turn off the television

And look only at me-

"Sakura?"

"Yeah?"

"Hikari. You're my light."

* * *

**A/N:** Hoped you liked the long chapter:D Please review!  



	7. His Fighting Style

**Disclaimer: **Naruto not mine

* * *

Sasuke was out with Naruto, Neji, Shikamaru, and strangely, Gaara. They were walking throught Konoha and didn't notice the big pack of girls following them. Sasuke was intent on coming up with a way to get Sakura 'back' (where he got the idea that she was his to begin with is beyond them all), but they supported him anyway as best they could (so he would shut up). 

But just then they spotted Kyoshio walking with Sakura. "AAAAAAAAHHHHH KYOSHIO! HE MUST DIEE!" Sasuke screamed crazily, chasing after the two.

"Sasuke-teme!" Naruto screamed after him. "WAIT UP!" Yet, Naruto didn't do anything but stand there. Sasuke didn't care less however as he ran after Sakura and Kyoshio.

Sakura suddenly spun around. "Yes, Uchiha-san?"

"S-S-Sakura!"

"Is there something you want Uchiha-san?"

"Yes there is! Why're you with _that guy_," Sasuke gave Kyoshio a mean glare, "when you could be with me?"

Sakura grumbled before saying, "You really want to know? How about I just list out all the reasons then? One, you're a TEME! Two, you LEFT ME ON A FRICKIN BENCH!"

"You waited for me!"

"So I could repay you! The way you repaid me!" A small crowd starting forming.

"Sakura, I'm sorry for that! I really am! But, I had to get my revenge..."

"You didn't get it yet did you?" Sakura asked bitterly. "So why don't you just leave the village again so you can get your precious revenge!"

"Just leave Sakura alone Uchiha, is that too much to ask?" Kyoshio suddenly said.

"Don't butt your head into this Kyoshio!" Sasuke yelled. "What do you know?"

"I know more than you know," he whispered dangerously.

Without warning, Sasuke rushed foward, attacking Kyoshio. The two started to fight, without any jutsu or kunai. "Woo-hoo! Go Sasuke-teme!" Naruto hollered from the sidelines.

"Baka!" Shikamaru hissed. "We need to get him out of there. Tsunade's going to lock him up for doing this!"

"Kuso." Naruto rushed foward, trying to pry the two off of eachother, only succeeding in dragging himself into the fight. "Naruto-kun!" Hinata whimpered. Kyoshio and Sasuke seemed to be in a sort of trance now. The both of them were almost trying to murder the other as if it was some fierce war. Yet all the while it was just regular fighting. The crowd soon dispersed as it got a bit boring for them.

"Sasuke-teme!" Naruto screamed, still trying to push the two apart. And Tsunade just happened to walk by.

"What're you all doing?"

"Uhh.. well you see - " Neji tried coming up with an excuse.

"I already know what happened, don't try lying!" she snapped.

Naruto, the idiot, decided to say, "If you already knew what happened, then why'd you ask us what happened?"

"You know what? I think I'll just lock you all up now!" she screeched.

"What? That's not fair!"

"Naruto did it!"

Ignoring them, she turned to Kyoshio and said, "Kyoshio, you can go. You didn't have anything to do with this."

"Yes he did!" Naruto complained. "He fought back!"

"Well I'm going to let him go. Get that through your head. Let's go boys." Kyoshio walked back in the direction of Sakura's house while Tsunade had to drag the others back to the Hokage office.

Once or twice they would get delayed as Naruto tried to make a break for it. So when they finally got there, it was dark and well, dark. "Well, I'm out," Tsunade said, kicking them in there. "Have fun!"

--

"We need to get out of here!" Sasuke cried, practically scratching the walls.

"What's your problem?" Shikamaru grumbled. "Stop being so troublesome. Let's just sleep the night away and Tsunade will let us out in the morning."

"No! It's not that! Kyoshio... he's..."

"What about him?"

"The way he fought, it's the same as how _he_ fought against me when we were kids. He's with Sakura right now! And who knows what he'll do to her!"

"Who's he?" Naruto asked dumbly.

"Itachi."

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks to **Mezumi Azuma**, **edakumi-sama**, **Uchiha Sakura Blossoms**, **dragonfly454**, and **tenshii-chan** for reviewing! You guys rock! 


	8. Facing Him

**Disclaimer: **Naruto is not mine.

* * *

"Sasuke!" Neji looked serious.

"You believe me?"

"Of course I DON'T!" Then again, when does Neji _not_ look serious? "You're basing this on instinct only! There's no solid proof to make your sudden accusation valid!"

"Big words," Naruto mumbled.

"When is instinct not enough Neji?" Sasuke boomed. "We're _Shinobi_! We LIVE on instinct! Proof is needed for the people we work for. And besides, I think I would know my own brother."

"He's got a point Neji!" Naruto said. Of course, who would actually trust Naruto's judgement? But in desperate times such as these, there was only one choice. "Shikamaru, what should we do?"

"I say you go for it! I'll stay here and keep a watch."

"You mean you'll stay here because it's too troublesome..."

"Same meaning!"

"Shikamaru, you're coming with us." Everyone turned to Gaara. They had forgotten he was even with them. "We need all the manpower we can get to face the Uchiha. And since this is all we can get, we're going to use it." Sure Shukaku had been extracted out of him but Gaara was still.. Gaara. So they obeyed him without question. But there was still the problem of how they were going to break out without Tsunade or some ANBU coming to check up on them.

Naruto came up with an answer. "Someone have a bobby pin or something like that?"

Sasuke handed him one and his pants came sliding down. "What? I've been working out a lot... and haven't had time to go shopping. Besides, what're you gonna do with that Naruto?"

"Pick the lock!" He pulled on the metal making it into one long rod (a small one at that), which made Sasuke go, "What about my PANTS?"

"No one gives a shit about your pants," Gaara grumbled.

Naruto finished picking the lot and gave Sasuke his bobby pin back which was amazingly back in perfect condition. "How the hell did yo - "

"Shouldn't we go now? Isn't Sakura-chan in trouble?" There wasn't any hesitating after that.

--

The first stop was Sakura's house. But it was empty. "Kyoshio was heading here though!"

"We know that Naruto!"

"There appears to be no signs of a struggle. Are you sure about your assumptions Sasuke?"

"YES I AM! HE DRUGGED AND TOOK HER SOMEWHERE! THAT'S IT!"

"You know, for someone that wants to save Sakura-chan, you sure make it seem like she's dead already," Naruto grumbled.

"Don't say that!"

"Then stop acting like it!"

"Fine. He probably went outside of Konoha. Let's go!" Sasuke ordered and pointed, somewhat lamely, and they headed out once more.

The village was quiet. Deadly quiet. "Um... guys?" Naruto whimpered. "I'm SCARED!" His last word echoed throughout the village. Loudly. But nothing else could be heard and there weren't any screams of, "SHUT UP NARUTO!"

"Something's wrong," Shikmaru noted. "There isn't anyone out and no one told Naruto to shut up... Itachi did something."

"Sasuke! You and Gaara go on ahead, we're gonna take care of the village," Neji ordered rushing back.

"Sasuke-teme, bring Sakura-chan back safely." With that Naruto rushed into the village, heading towards the Hyuuga Manor.

Sasuke and Gaara ran off. "Why're you helping me Gaara?"

"I owe her."

"Sakura?"

"Yes. She helped Suna in a time of need."

"Oh. Are you sure that's it?" Sasuke didn't know why he said that. Of course, Sasuke's crazy.

Gaara turned to look at him. And glared. A deathly glare. A very deathly glare. He finished it off with a, "Hn." They reached the outskirts of Konoha shortly after.

"Where could he be?" Sasuke muttered to himself.

"He's your brother, shouldn't you know?" Gaara asked coldly.

"Well I don't see you keeping track of your brother!"

"Yes I do. He is in Suna right now, probably at a bar somewhere. Or buying more makeup," he grumbled the last part.

"Boys, boys," Kyoshio's voice came from somewhere deep in the forest. The two spun around, trying to get a lock on him but his voice was coming from all ends. "Are you just looking for little old me? If you want your dear Sakura come and get her!" A manical laugh followed and his voice just sort of... faded.

"Wait, Uchiha," Gaara all out comanded, throwing his arm in front of Sasuke. "I can track him with my sand. He should've left some kind of trail..." Gaara started walking into the forest, Sasuke following apphrehensivly. They headed deep into the forest, the sky started getting darker. Gaara stopped in front of a cave. "They're in there."

"Alright. Gaara, you stay here."

"Why?"

"It's my fight. I'm still an avenger. Besides, what if we need a backup?" With those words he rushed into the cave.

Gaara stood in place, silently. "Whatever."

--

The cave was dark so Sasuke had to feel his way around. But it was also slipperly and he slipped a few times but he was - _DETERMINED! I AM DETERMINED! _- and on the brink of going crazy. Crazy for Sakura that is. It was about fifteen minutes before Sasuke's common sense kicked in. Why walk in the dark like an idiot, when you have the Sharingan? "SHARINGAN!" His eyes went all red and creepy like, but this time he spotted some sort of chakra deep into the cave and without hestiation, ran foward like a maniac.

Just as he stopped however, a figure ran foward and swiftly knocked him back. Sasuke's eyes flashed and he quickly formed the Ox, Hare, and Monkey seals before thrusting his left arm downwards, chakra quickly focusing into it. He ran foward thrusting his hand towards the figure, Chidori sparkling in his hand. But the figure flung him back into a wall. "Ugh... Kyoshio? No... Itachi!" Sasuke shook his head to clear the image in his head.

"You figured it out little brother?" Kyoshio came into focus but as Sasuke looked on, a poof later, and Itachi's form came into view. "A simple henshin enough to disguise even the Hokage of Konoha."

"Shut up Itachi!" Sasuke tried to get up, but the knock into the wall had caused more damage than he had thought.

"You've waited so many years for this, yet all the best you can come up with is a simple Chidori? How pathetic," Itachi laughed, then smirked.

But the biggest surprise was when a certain someone spoke up from the very back of the cave. "Sasuke, you're so weak." The two Uchiha brothers turned and saw Sakura standing with her arms crossed. "And that 'Uchiha smirk' is really annoying!"

Itachi frowned. "You shouldn't be up..."

"I'm not one to have the ability to surpass my sensei for nothing," she said coldly. Her hands started glowing a faint green and she pounced. Itachi got caught off guard. Her fist hit his stomach, earning a cry from him.

But he quickly rebounded and quickly performed some seals. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" A huge fireball erupted from Itachi's mouth and flew at Sakura. She quickly dodged it and latched her feet to the ceiling wall. She quickly jumped off and jumped towards Itachi, her hands heading for his head. He quickly dodged out of the way, forming a quick seal and a shadow bunshin poofed next to him. It quickly latched itself onto Sakura and Itachi shouted, "Bunshin Daibakuha!"

Sasuke's eyes widened in horror and he screamed, "SAKURA! GET IT OFF OF YOU, QUICK!"

Her eyes had gone from a calm to slightly shocked and she swiftly kicked it off effortlessly. It got flung into the ceiling and exploded, causing a few rocks to fall. Sakura dodged a few of them but a big one fell onto her leg. "SAKURA!" Sasuke yelled yet another time, helpless in his current position.

Itachi quickly approached her. Her face was a pained expression and it seemed the rock had hurt her badly. Itachi smirked. "You know, I'll just let you off with a simple Katon." He quickly formed the seals and just as he prepared to blow out the fire, Sakura swiftly kicked the rock off of her lg and rolled away, Itachi performing the jutsu anyway. It toasted the ground, and Sakura quickly hit him with a powerful jutsu. "Ranshinsho!" she hit the top back of his neck and sent some chakra that was converted to electricity to the base of his brain stem.

"Sakura... isn't that - "

"Yes it is, Sasuke, " she smirked.

Itachi started to sudenly move around awkwardly. "W - what did you do?" he yelled.

"Just a jutsu I learned from Tsunade-sensei," she said proudly. She quickly molded some chakra, forming a sort of rope and trying it around Itachi's hands and legs.

"S - sakura," Sasuke whispered. "I - I was supposed to... save _you_."

"Sasuke, where'd you come up with that idea?" she said softly. "I'm here for you and you're here for me."

"Yeah, but I'd feel better if I could've saved you," he said, smirking. But then his eyes widened and he screamed out, "SAKURA! WATCH OUT!" She turned around to see Itachi and then...

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**A/N:** I don't know if I got some stuff wrong or right. It's 12:30 a.m. and here's your second-to-last-chapter :) The last chapter should be up soon and if you want something in there, just ask? As long as it doesn't mess up with my central plot for it, then I'll put any requests you have in the last chapter :) 


	9. I Won't Break

**Disclaimer: **I OWN NARUTO! ...In an AU universe eheheh.

**A/N: **One year and two days since this was last updated. Ahh, to those who are still here, LONG TIME NO SEE! And I'm super duper uber fantastically soorry! But here's your last chapter. Hope it meets your expectations! (Although there's not as much humor as I would've liked ) & Chapters 4 and 5 have been revised if you want to check it out :D

* * *

"Mama! Mama, where are you?" A little girl with short, choppy, black hair wandered throughout a crowd, dressed in her best pink kimono as she looked for her mother. "Mama! Where are you..." She looked around wildly, only to see the legs of older adults clamboring about. 

"Faye! Faye, come here!"

Faye spun around, trying to locate the voice that was calling out to her, before spotting a bright bubblegum pink and rushed towards it quickly.

"There you are! We've been worried sick about you, you little brat."

"Hey!" Faye called out. "I'm only three minutes younger than you!"

"That's still three whole minutes though! Come on, mom and dad are over there."

Faye grabbed onto her 'older' brother's hand as he led her towards the raised stage, where all the important people were sitting.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Faye screeched, running into the open arms of her mother, who scooped her up quickly.

"Don't go off like that anymore," Sakura said, as she held her daughter. "Especially not when there's so many people here! Who knows what could've happened?"

"I know mama, I won't anymore!"

As mother and daughter continued to bond, one Uchiha Sasuke approached his son and ruffled his hair. "Good job, Fayth. I swear you're like a bloodhound."

"Hey! Don't mess up the hair," Fayth growled, smoothing his pink locks back into place.

Sasuke ignored the young boy and continued on, "You know, you're like a male version of your mother and your sister's a female version of me. Mostly just the looks though," he added thoughtfully.

"Yeah yeah," Fayth grumbled, knowing it was an indirect jibe at his pink hair. Was it his fault the genetics had somehow been messed up and he was the one blessed with pink hair from his mother!?

"Fayth, let's go," Faye said, having got out of Sakura's grip, sliding her hand into his and dragging him away. "Arashi and the others are waiting for us!"

"Just don't get us lost!"

"I won't, I _promise_!"

Sakura smiled as the two ran off to find their other friends. "Faye's always promising things. Sasuke, what did you tell her?"

"Who, me? Nothing!"

"You sure about that? Cause - "

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned as he ran towards the Uchihas. "This is actually quite fun! If only I didn't have to sit up here though. It's so embarrasing!"

"But you _are_ the reason everyone came out Naruto," Sakura reminded him. "After all, it's not everday you've been a successful Hokage for three straight years in a row."

"That's true," Naruto said thoughtfully. "Well, let's go party! Come on!" He dragged Sakura and Sasuke (unwillingly, or so they said) towards the table on the platform, where all important guests and other people were. All the Kages were there, for one (except for a certain Kazekage though, he was off somewhere being mobbed by rabid fangirls), the Rookie 11 of Konoha, their senseis, and of course, Jiraiya and Tsunade. It wasn't just a celebration for Naruto being a sucessful Hokage (although, it was for Naruto), it was for the peace treaty that had all of the Shinobi nations alligned with each other for the past three years.

"Neji, you don't look like you're having fun at all!" Naruto cried out, and indeed, the Hyuuga looked like he would rather be out on a top secret S-class ANBU mission at the moment.

"I'm kind of... preoccupied, as you can see," he said. And yes, they could see. In his arms was the newest additon to the Hyuuga family, ten month old Hizashi. Next to them sat the cranky and very pregnat Tenten, so one could say he wasn't having much fun at all.

"So cranky nowadays," Naruto whispered. "I had to put _him_ on maternity leave too! If I didn't know better, I would think Neji was the one pregnat!" One dirty diaper flying at him told them all that Neji had heard that. "Anyway, looks like everyone's pretty happy."

"Yeah, they do, don't they?"

Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai were on one far end of the table, chattering amonst themselves, getting interuppted now and then by Asuma and Kurenai's seven year old son, Haruto. Shikamaru sat in between Ino and Temari, both of who were keen on trying to keep him to themselves. ("I swear he should choose before they're all old and wrinkly," Naruto commetted distastefully.) Chouji and Lee were having a heated discussion... about something or other. The two had formed a unique friendship over the years. Kiba was getting Akamaru to bug Shino, as Shino decided to show the two the meaning of being _bugged_. And then there was Tsunade and Jiraiya, both drunk on sake already and laughing about old times.

"Wait, where'd Hinata go?" Sakura asked, not spotting her anywhere.

"Oh, she's with the kids, keeping an eye on them all."

"Shouldn't you go with her?"

"But no one wants to let the Hokage go now, do they?"

"Unfortunately, no," Naruto sighed.

"Well actually, Hokage-sama," Sakura began, "I think you should get seated right now." Hinata and the rest of the children had returned, and Sakura and everyone else all exchanged a glance.

Naruto, of course, noticed nothing and sat down obediently as he spotted some ramen waiting for him, barely noticing everyone (except for the other Kages) getting up from their seat to the front of the platform.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Tsunade called out, and everyone hushed up at once, for the former Godaime still called for respect. "Thank you. We would like to say something now."

"As you all know, it's been three years since the peace treaty has been signed and now the Hidden Villages are like we've never been before! And who else do we have to thank, than the current Hokage of Konoha, our Rokudaime, Uzumaki Naruto!"

Looking up from his bowl of ramen, Naruto finally noticed what was going on and proceeded to grin widely, to laughter and applause from the audience.

"That day, the very first thing he did when he got appointed the position of Hokage was to try and get this peace treaty to go through, and he didn't stop until it was done. He worked for days upon days, traveling to the different villages to get this whole thing sorted through, and he did it!"

"Thanks to this one man, we all have allies now and live as peacefully as we can without the worries that of wondering, 'Is Kumogakure going to invade us today?' Or 'Is Konohagakure planning something fishy?' We are all united as ninja and will oppose any intruders in our way of life, like in the past."

"Peace isn't an easy thing to accomplish, but I do believe we have come close," Naruto finished off, now at the front of the platform as well, grinning like never before. Everyone started to applaud loudly, some whistling and others going, 'Long live the Hokage!'

"LET'S PARTY, PEOPLE!" Naruto screamed loudly, before jumping down into the crowd. Everyone followed his lead (except for Tenten, she was kind of very pregnat and Neji just left Hizashi with someone it seemed), happily just laughing in the crowd. It got even better when someone had gotten hold of a microphone and started to sing, and everyone started to dance. It lasted well into the night, but everyone continued to enjoy themselves, while the Konoha 11 went to a quieter place to reminicse, the Academy.

"It's been a long ten years," Sakura sighed.

"And you've all grown up _so_ much since then." Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai had followed them, smiling at all of their once-upon-a-time-students.

"Thanks to you guys," Ino smiled.

"Yeah, if it weren't for you, Kaka-sensei, I don't think we would've been so, us!"

It suddenly became eerily silent, as everyone started to think, 'back in the day.'

"Remember when Naruto gave that big ol' speech during the Chuunin Exam?" Kiba said suddenly, laughing and breaking the silence.

"Hey! If it wasn't for me, none of you guys would've gone on either!"

"Sure, Naruto."

"What about that time when Shino got poisined so he couldn't stop laughing?"

"You weren't even there!"

"Ah, but I heard about it."

And so it went, their big group chatted amongst themselves about more innocent and simpler times, when trying not to blush around Naruto-kun was the only thing one focused on, or when the only missions avaliable to them were all D-rank ones. It was, however, getting dark and most everyone had children to attend to, so they bid their goodbyes and headed home.

Sasuke, however, found himself dragging Sakura to the entrance of Konoha for some reason, to the bench he had left her so many years ago. (They didn't need to worry about Fayth and Faye as both had begged to sleep over with Arashi at the Uzumaki's.)

"How long ago was this?"

"Ten years," Sasuke said softly. "You know, that night I made a promise."

"What kind of promise?"

"That I would come back." Sakura stayed silent. "But when I did, and there was Kyoshio, I felt like maybe promises aren't worth being kept."

"And now?"

"I won't break a promise even if, say, Ino offered to strip dance for me."

"Sasuke!" Sakura growled, raising her fists slowly.

"Just kidding!" Sasuke planted a quick peck on her lips before saying, "Let's go home! The kids are over at Naruto's and we have the whole house to ourselves..."

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

**&Owari**


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